Tell No One
by Chocolate 'N Giggles
Summary: You left me when I was only thirteen. You left me to die on the streets with no money, no protection and a baby to take care of. The least you can do Dallas Winston, is to understand why I hate you. R
1. Chapter 1

**ATTENTION: Before you read this, please read my author's note at the beginning of chapter 7. Seriously people.

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**Disclaimer: Everything besides my OCs belongs to S.E. Hinton**

"I can't believe this is all ours!" I squealed as I flopped down on the bed. I leaned over and slipped my fingers under Julia's arms and threw her into the air. She fell with an *oof* onto my stomach and we both giggled hysterically. I leaned my head back and stared at the white ceiling. For a second, I almost forgot that I would be turning nineteen in a month. Almost.

My fingers curled over the baby blue sheets on my twin bed with a single pillow to match. Pieces of an ebony dresser lay on the other side of the room that would soon be put together and filled with both mine and Julia's clothing. A single door lead to the bathroom with our very own showers, sink, and toilet., and a second door lead to the big room that was our kitchen and living room. Best of all, it was _mine. My _very own apartment and my very own bed and stove and couch and so much more. Julia and I wouldn't have to live with a "friend" or sleep in my convertible anymore, because as small as it was, this apartment was _mine._ I paused for a moment to speculate it all.

Then, I leaped off the bed and grabbed Julia's hand before dashing outside. My red convertible was parked just a block away from the building and was filled with our clothing, food and other necessities. We couldn't afford to rent a truck so we pilled our furniture in the trunk, back seat, and the passenger seat while Julia bounced in my lap all the way downtown.

Before that, I usually stayed over with a friend, or at a motel on the outskirts of Tulsa, but when someone had died in this very apartment, the price immediately dipped and I had bought it in a heartbeat. I didn't even care if some old guy was haunting my apartment, all I cared was that it was mine.

"Here," I say as I picked up one of the smallest boxes and put it into Julia's tiny arms, before taking one for myself.

"Alice?" Julia asked me as we hauled the cardboard boxes one by one into my new apartment.

"Hmm?"

"Do I have to go to school tomorrow?" she asked as she used a switchblade to open the box labeled 'Julia's clothes'.

"Of course you do honey," I murmured as I set away some of my stuff. She glared at me with her white-blue eyes and her face set into a pout. I sighed as I prepared a few reasons for her.

"But we just moved in," she whined, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, like five miles away," I replied.

"But I need to get used to my new surroundings before I can feel comfortable going to school." she said.

I stared at her and mentally asked what book she stole that from.

"Your surrounding aren't new and neither is your school," I said, trying to sound patient.

"Why do you always get to tell me what to do?" She said, louder this time, jumping to feet."

"Are we really going to do this now?" I answered.

"Yes!"

"Fine," I snapped. "Because I'm more than ten years older than you and I'll always be. I leaned closer to her. "And because I don't take orders from an eight-year old."

"You never let me do anything!" Her face twisted up and she ran to her -our- room.

"Julia!' I shout as I dropped the box and followed her.

I turned the doorknob, but when I tried to open it, I found Julia had pressed her back against it.

"Julia?" No answer. "Why don't you want to go to school?" I asked. Still no answer, but the door gave in a little bit.

I got down on my knees and squeezed my head between the tiny space between he door and the wall. Julia had curled herself into a ball and was sitting right next to it, so I couldn't open it any further.

"Why don't you want to go to school?" I repeated, more gently this time. She shrugged. I pushed my torso into the room.

"Can I come in?" I asked her. She doesn't do anything for the first few seconds, but then she picked herself off the floor. When I got up and opened the door, she was sitting on the bed, with her legs dangling over the floor. I sit down next to her and propped her chin up.

"You gonna tell me why?" I say for the third time. Julia looked down at her knees and bit her lip.

"The kids there are mean." she says softly. It was all I could not to laugh at that.

"I thought you were the one who make the kids cry," I said with a smile. She glowers at me.

"I only do that because the mean!" she pouted. "If I don't then they'll make fun of _me_!"

I put my arms around her shoulders and hug her. "I know, I know," I whispered. "Why else do you think I let you do that?" Julia giggled again.

"I'll make you a deal," I said, sitting up. "If you go to school tomorrow, I'll buy you a new dress, at the department store."

Julia's eyes lit up like a pair of fireworks. "The department store!" she squealed.

"Yup," I replied, running my hands through her rich brown hair. I knew I would regret this later, since I have a pretty good idea about how much the dresses there cost, but it was worth it.

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"Go to sleep Julia, it's midnight." Julia was perched at the window in her nightgown, and her chin on her palms.

"Okay," she said as she slowly made her way to the twin bed. She took her shoes

off one by one, as slowly as she could, before she slid under the covers. I rotated around

and put my arms around her.

A few minutes later, she pronounced that she couldn't fall asleep.

"Can you tell me a story?" she asked me.

"Don't have any."

"Can you tell me about Momma and Daddy?" she pleaded. I shook my head. She knew better than to ask something like that.

"Just go to sleep."

_Back when I lived in New York around the time I was ten, way before Julia was born, I used to fantasize about my parents, my brother and I realizing we all loved each other and becoming one happy family. I don't think I was younger than fifteen when I realized the chance of that happening. I don't think it was because I was a ignorant moron, I was just in denial._

_My parents were always drunk. Most of the time, they were either passed out on the floor or they had just disappeared somewhere and would be gone for days. _

_My brother and I absolutely despised each other. We were both emotionally abusive to the point of insanity and our pranks involved hurting each other much more than they should have._

_When Julia had been born, I believed for a second that everyone would warm up to each other to take care of the sick baby that only weighed four pounds. At the end, my dad died due to drunk driving, my mom disappeared for one day for good and my brother ran away somewhere to escape the police or whatever. I was left with the annoying baby who required constant care and would never just shut up._

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate reviews and I'm looking for help with my writing. Negative CC is never a bad thing to me.**

**Looking back at this, I feel a little ashamed, but I'm too lazy to re-write it.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Ow!" "Sorry," Alice said, even though we both knew she didn't mean it. She ripped the brush though my thick hair again and I yelped.

"Almost done honey," she murmured. She put the brush down on our nightstand and took a faded pink ribbon from her pocket with one hand. Her other hand was clutched around the mass of my dark brown hair, twisting it into a ponytail. She took the ribbon, wrapped it around the mass of hair and knotted it three times.

"There," she said as she let go of my hair, and handed me my backpack. She tried to tuck a loose strand behind my ear, but I leaped off the bed before she could do any more damage to my skull.

"Ready to go?" Alice said, getting up to her feet. She was wearing a white blouse and a leather skirt, and her blonde hair was tied up with a rubber band instead of a ribbon. Her large, narrow honey-brown eyes always seemed to be both nervous and excited and cold and emotionless at once.

I bobbed my head and she took my hand. She lead me to the parking lot and got into her car. Alice was in the driver seat, and I got to sit in the front seat. Alice always let me sit up front, but all the others kids in my school had to sit in the _back, _because they were babies. I'm not allowed to say that though because the principal says I'll be in trouble if I do it again. Actually, I'm not very afraid of my principal, but Alice says that if I get too many notes home, I'll be in big trouble, and I _am _afraid of Alice. That's really unfair because Alice says I can do whatever I want there as long as I don't get into trouble, but that excludes almost everything.

I sighed and leaned back against the car seat, and stuck one hand out the window and flexed my fingers. The red paint was peeling off and one of the side mirrors were twisted up for reasons she wouldn't tell me. I always bugged her about painting it purple so that it would be pretty but she said it was attract too much attention.

To Alice, everything seemed to attract too much attention. She always said that she didn't want a social worker or something to find out that she was keeping me. I don't see why, because Alice is my sister and it's not like she kidnapped me. When I told her that, she laughed and told me I was naïve.

That's also a lie because I am absolutely _not _naïve. I know how to keep my mouth shut when I need to and I'm great at making up lies about me and Alice even if they don't usually blend with Alice's lies.

"We're here," Alice announced as she rolled the ear shift forward. I twirled the loose strand of my hair nervously and pretended to be busy.

"Jewles?" She starred at me as hard as she could, her voice soft, but her demanding eyes were daring me to test her. Sometimes, she scared me, the way she could look almost inhuman. I bite my lip and look down.

"You're still buying me that dress aren't you?" I say finally when she doesn't say anything.

"'Course I am," she said as she got out of the car. She jumped on her feet and circled the hood of the car until she was standing next to me. She unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me out of the car without opening the door.

"You'd still have to go to school, ya know," she said quietly. "Even if I wasn't buying you that dress." I nodded obediently.

She sighed and kneeled down to give me a warm hug.

"Have a good day," she murmured and kissed my forehead.

"Okay," I after Alice had gotten in her car and was already driving into the distance.

When she was completely gone, and shoved my backpack over my shoulder and groaned, mumbling to point out how bitter I was. I trudged up the stairs and cracked the door open to a sea of students flooding the hallways.

Since I was in third grade, I was about middle aged compared everyone else. Even so, I was still one of the smallest. Come to think of it, everything in life is really unfair.

At the corner of my eye, I saw a pretty girl walking down the hallway. A large group of friends followed behind her like a pack of dogs. She had platinum hair like Alice, but it was much less appealing. I recognized her immediately. It was Vanessa, the richest kid in my grade who Alice called a "soc". She was the kind of person who brought a new toy and wore a new dress to school every single day. She was also the kind of girl who could spend as much money a day as Alice could make in a week.

She would always cross her legs, and tip her chin up like she was better than everyone, but still acted sickly sweet and handed out fake compliments left and right. The teachers adored her, and the kids would do anything to be friends with her. Even the fifth graders!

No one could see pass the fake smile and bright eyes except for me. I see the way she treats her so-called friends and I see what she does when someone doesn't do what she wants them to. Of course, whenever I gave someone a piece of my mind, she would come running like an angel sent from heaven and I would in trouble with the principal. When Vanessa did that, everyone just seemed to brush it off.

"Hey Julia," she chirped. I glanced up to see her head of bouncy blonde hair. She flipped it behind her shoulder and blinked her little green eyes.

"You need some money?" she asked sweetly, her expression giving away nothing.

"Huh?"

"Well, my Momma said that you are so mean is because you don't have enough money to afford everything that I can." She said as she smiled innocently. My face burned to crimson, and some of the fifth graders snickered from behind.

"I don't need your damned charity!" I trying to shout and whisper at the same time, so none of the teachers would hear. Vanessa's eyes widen.

"My Mom was right," she mused. "Poor people do cuss a lot!"

"Stop that!" I yelled. "I know your faking!" I yelled louder, wishing someone could see past that pretty little face, but the silence continued.

"Don't talk to her like that," one of her friends snapped at me. She patted Vanessa on the shoulder. "Don't listen to her, no one likes her anyways."

I opened my mouth to say something, but one of the teachers was turning around the corner. Her eyes flashed from Vanessa to me, and she glared at me, like she was asking what I did wrong this time. Because, you know, I was always had to be the villain.

My face flushed again and I turned on my heel and scurried to my class, bumping my hip against the wall along the way. That had provoked more snickers. I told myself the only reason I was so upset was that I would be in big trouble if Vanessa tattled on me.

When I reached my classroom, I slammed my backpack down on my desk, which was conveniently placed at the front of the room. The classroom was empty and not even the teacher was there, so I felt it was safe to hide here until the bell rang.

"Julia," I looked up to see my teacher. "What are you doing here so early?" she said sounding more annoyed than surprised. I shrugged.

"Why don't you go play with your friends?" She came over and kneeled down by my desk so we were eye level.

"I don't want to," I said quietly as I pulled my notebook from my backpack.

"Julia," Mrs. Nesbit quickly grabbed my notebook away from me. "Go play with your friends," she said calmly sliding my notebook back where in belonged. "Now."

"Fine!" I said a little too harshly. I swung my backpack over my shoulder and walked as fast as I could out of the room, being careful not to slam the door behind me.

When I reached the tiny playground where all the other kids my age were, I let it fall onto the ground. I ran my eyes around the playground to make sure Vanessa wasn't there before I walked slowly to the swing set. Two kids were perched on the swing, throwing their legs high into the air and giggling on their way down. One of them had frizzy black hair and I recognized her as one of the fourth graders. The second one was in my class with Mrs. Nesbit.

I remember her name being Janice Matthews. She had curly red hair that reached the center of her back and large blue-green as that never seemed to meet anyone else's. She was very shy and didn't talk much but somehow she still had a big group of friends.

"I want to swing," I said to her. She jerked her head up, surprised.

"I was here first though," she whined, pulling her bottom lip into a pout. "You have to wait your turn!"

"I want to swing now!" I retorted. I reached my hand out and grabbed the rusty chain that tied the piece of plastic to the metal pole above it. "Get off!"

Janice's eyes seemed to water up. What a crybaby, I thought as she started to slid off the swing.

"Janice!" someone shouted from a few distances away. I looked behind me in horror to see Vanessa. "Stand up for yourself!"

"Yeah," One of her friends said. "Don't listen to her, she's just a bully!"

Janice glanced up at me and her crimson lips pulled into I frown. She trembled just a little as she crossed her arms and refused to move.

"Get off!" I screamed at her. I wasn't used to people not listening to me. It wasn't fair for Janice to start doing it right now.

"No." she chirped quietly.

"Leave her alone Julia!" Vanessa said.

"Get off!" I said, shrieking as loud as I could. "Get off, get off!" Something crept behind my eyes and blurred my vision and my throat felt dry.

"Julia," Vanessa pleaded. "Just leave us alone for once!"

"Yeah!" Janice said, trying to sound brave. "Just because you're less fortuanate doesn't mean you have to be so mean to everyone."

"You shut up!" I screeched at her. "At least my daddy didn't run off, and at least my mommy isn't some disgusting whore who can't find anything better to do than be a barmaid." I heard hush of horrified gasps from behind me. I froze, not believing what I just said.

I didn't regret it though, because I had enough of Vanessa pity, I though as I stomped away from the group of kids, kicking as many pebbles as I could along the way. The next thing I knew, the voices from the loudspeakers flooded the empty hallways of the school and I became face to face with the principal.

**A/N: Yes, Janice is ****supposed to be Two-Bit's sister, and the rest of the gang will be introduced in the next chapter**

**Oh and please, please, please review, I really want to know if anyone is enjoying this.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Some things I would like to know**

**Are Alice and Julia Mary-Sues or implausible?**

**Do you think Julia overreacts too much? (Since she's pretty young I do want her to overreact a bit, just tell me if I go overboard.)**

**Are my description too little/much?**

**Is Ponyboy being OOC?**

**And any other tips and such.**

**Oh yeah, and now they finally meet the gang.**

Alice grabbed a pen and scrawled her signature over the half slip of paper without saying a word.

I sighed in relief. I wasn't in too much trouble. Vanessa told Mr. Futon, our principal that I had sworn and yelled and both her and Janice, but when he called Janice down to the office, she denied it. It was so amusing to watch Vanessa's face just twist up into knots and equally amusing to see her try to stay calm.

I wasn't surprised about Janice though, I was ninety-nine percent sure she wouldn't admit what I said to her because she is so shy. Alice says it's because she doesn't want to draw attention to herself and that I should take a page from her book, but I don't believe that.

"You really need to stop doing that." she says as she tuck the note into my lunch pail. "One of these days, the social services will get a whiff of this and y'all be sent to the orphanage before you know it." she says. Her voice shook the tiniest bit. I sneaked a glance of her face. It suddenly reminded my of Vanessa this afternoon, with her eyes on fire but her voice controlled and her face calm.

"Sorry," I said quietly. Frankly, I wasn't very worried. I knew Alice could just lie her way out of that if it happen. I don't think Alice is too worried about it either because we've been here for almost four years now and no one I know had realized too much yet.

When I saw Alice reach behind the counter and lifted up one of those sparkly pink bag that you can only get from the stores rich people shopped it, my heart leaped.

"My dress!" I squealed in delight. But when I groped fro it, Alice pulled it out of my grasp. I opened my mouth, but something flickered across Alice's face and I snapped it shut.

"You'll get this later." she said calmly as she kicked fiercely it under the sink. I winced as I imagine the fine fabric ripping into pieces.

"You said you'll let me get a dress!" I said, forgetting how mad Alice could get.

"I said I'll get you one, I never said you could have it!" Alice shouted, suddenly losing her overly-controlled monotone voice. "And honestly, I don't think you deserve to have one right now!"

"But-" I stopped when Alice pressed a long skinny finger to my mouth. She kneeled down to my height. I always loathed the way people did that. It made me feel lesser and like I was a baby, but considering the consequences, I don't say anything.

"I let you do all those things in school because I know how hard it is for you." she said, regaining control of herself. "But if you ever get suspended or something like that, the school has to report it and if the school reports it, _someone_ is going to figure out that I don't have legal custody of you." she pursed her lips. "And believe me, once you actually do something physical, that's exactly what's going to happen." She straightened up and dusted off the knees of her plaid skirt.

"Oh, and by the way," she said suddenly. "I convinced a bunch of moms who were going to send their kids to that tutoring program that they needed to figure out if it was actually worth the money they were spending. In short, they told the tutor kid that their kids need a free trial, so first day's free." her voice dropped a notch again. "You're going to go tonight, and if you don't behave you won't be eating anything until the day after tomorrow."

I draw my lips together and crossed me arms to let her know I was protesting without giving her an excused to further punish me. Then I scrambled up the stairs and slammed the door so hard, my dolls tumbled of the nightstand.

"You realize that's my room too!" Alice yelled from bellow me.

I didn't replied, instead I buried my head into my pillow and screamed as loud as I could. I wasn't upset about the tutoring thing, Alice would have made me go anyways. But it was absolutely, positively, unfair to threaten me like that! I could die if she tried to starve me! Didn't she realize it was Vanessa and Janice's fault and not, not, _not_ mine! I screamed louder, but the moment my eyes begin to water, I stop. I don't cry, I never cry. Alice doesn't cry so I don't cry.

A few hours later, Alice announced dinner was ready and when we saw each other, she picks me up and puts me on her hip like nothing ever happened, which is pretty much how we deal with all of our fights. Just by pretending it never happened.

Alice made mashed potatoes and beans for dinner and when I finished all of those disgusting beans, she gives me extra gravy.

Alice asked how my day went besides what happened before school started. I told her about my B+ in Reading and how Tommy fell asleep in class today, and the teacher whacked him on the back of his head with a ruler. Alice laughed at that.

When I asked Alice if Jim was still her boyfriend, she whacks me on the back of my head., but not with a ruler. Then she gives a sarcastic laugh and tells me that her love life is something she is defiantly going to discuss with her eight-year old sister. I didn't see what the big deal was.

I liked Jim, he was nice, even though he was too old compared to her. He let Alice and I live at his house, so I didn't have to fall asleep in the back of the convertible at night. He even let me have the biggest room all to myself, even though his place only had two rooms.

The peace ended when Alice put me down on a stool and began to use the stick of torture on my hair again.

"I haven't forgotten about the tutoring you know," she says. I bit my lip and imagine how red my scalp was getting.

"I still haven't forgotten about the dress you know," I retorted. Alice laughs softly as she tied my hair back and dabbed the edges of my mouth with a napkin.

"Hey," I complained and the scratchy surface of the napkin dug into my skin. Alice smiled again, so I slapped her hand.

When Alice finally decided I looked presentable to the public, we got in her car. She let me sit in the front again and I held the map and helped her navigate, because unlike Vanessa and Janice and all those other girls, I was smart enough to.

"Ali?" I say when we're halfway there.

"Yeah honey?" she murmured, her eyes glued to the road, obviously not paying attention to me.

"Are you mad at me," I said timidly. "About Janice you know?"

"Of course I am. If the roles were switched, you'd be too." she says without pausing to think. Her eyes flickered to my face and she curled her lip.

"But I don't hate you." she said quickly. "I could never hate you."

I smiled at that and by the time the tutor's house came into sight., I had decided I was satisfied with her answer.

**Meanwhile...**

Ponyboy drummed his fingers nervously against the arm rest of his chair as he watched the cars pile into the limited room of his driveway.

"How many little kids need tutoring?" he wondered out loud, feeling exasperated.

Darry parted the curtains so he could see out the window and a frown crept across his face. "They better not screw up my car!" he said, anxiously rubbing his hands together.

Ponyboy sighed as he let his body go limp on the couch. Darry had decided they needed a little more money and he thought this tutoring business would solve all their problems. All most everyone knew Ponyboy for his grades since Tulsa's high school wasn't particularly know for it's academic standards. Unfortunately, the parents had suddenly decided they couldn't trust him to properly educate their kids, so they demanded a free trial. What did they seriously expect from this? The kids to suddenly pop back from school with straight As? Stuff like that took time. Yet, the Cutis's' still needed money, so that would explained why Pony was feeling so antsy right now.

"You know," Steve said, suddenly appearing from the door of the living room where the students were. "They're only so many kids you can have in the same room before you start feeling murderous." he said, rubbing his the sweat from his forehead.

"Just be glad Dally isn't out there." Two-Bit joked as he punched the blonde on the shoulder. Dally chuckled and elbowed Two-Bit in the stomach.

"Yeah, you're probably right 'bout that." he said with a toothy grin.

Ponyboy smiled to himself. The whole gang was at the Curtis household right now, excluding Johnny. Soda had invited Steve over to come "hang" without telling him about the whole tutoring and they were monitoring the kids. Two-Bit had brought his kid sister over, who was sitting on his knee at the moment. And Dally was… actually, Ponyboy honestly didn't know why Dally was here, but he decided it was safe to assume he was hiding from the fuzz. Ponyboy didn't exactly appreciate the gang invading his -well their's anyways- house, but Darry had declared that their door was open to anyone.

"Get your ass back in here Randle!" Ponyboy heard Soda shout through the paper thin walls.

"Think I'll take my time Soda," Steve said back. "Besides, I am here to "hang" with you guys aren't I?"

Janice giggled, but the moment everyone turned to look at her, she blushed.

Ponyboy couldn't understand why the sister of someone as loud and as proud as Two-Bit could be related to someone as reserved as his sister. But then again, no one every said they saw a resemblance between Pony and his brothers.

"Hey, you wanna go play with the kids out there, Janice?" Darry asked in a high pitched voice. The gang sniggered. Darry was never good with kids, which was probably the reason why Soda was out there instead of him.

Janice shook her head as she nibbled on her fingernails and Darry looked at Two-Bit pleadingly. Two-Bit winked back.

"Janice, why don't you go find someone your own age?" he asked the child on his lap. Janice shook her head again. "Why not? You don't wanna be spending time with dirty hoods like us do you?" he had been joking but Ponyboy couldn't help but notice the was he was pronouncing the last part almost bitterly.

Janice giggled. "You're not hoods."

"But were are." Two-Bit teased. He picked her up and began tickling her sides.

"Stop it, Stop it!" she squealed, kicking her legs in his general direction.

"See, I told you, you don't want to play with us." He said laughing. He scooped her up in her arms and carried out the door. "Let's go outside."

Ponyboy looked at Darry and he tilted his head at the door after Two-Bit. Pony nodded obediently and followed the two of them out the door.

When he caught a sight of the spacious living room where his family usually ate dinner together, he suddenly got a good idea of that "murderous" feeling Steve was talking about. Kids who could be no older than eight were swarming his house. It was practically like the alien invasion movie he watched, but with kids. There were kids bouncing on Darry's leather sofa and kids chasing each other around the house, and there were even kids _crying_ for some reason. He had a feeling that even Dally would have doubtlessly handled the situation better than Darry would have, seeing the condition of the house.

Ponyboy finally found Sodapop, prying a kid away from the kitchen sink. When he saw Pony, his face lit up and his lips pulled into a big smile. He dropped the kid he was holding on his butt and scrambled over.

"So glad you're here." he chirped pulling Pony into a big hug, messing his greased hair. "Good luck!" he said quickly and bounded away before Ponyboy could say a word.

Darry had said there was going to be fifteen kids there, but suddenly that number seemed very big. He paled when he realize who'd get in trouble if the furniture got messed up.

"Hey kids," he said, waving his arms as he trying to calm all of them down. "Hey kids," he repeated desperately, but to no avail. "Could y'all calm down?"

He gasped when he saw the little boy Soda dropped, opening the cupboard.

"Hey!" he shouted, shoving his way through the crowd. "Stop that!" he said as he yanked the boy down by his ankles.

"Hey kids!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Please!" Ponyboy swore he heard snickers from the small guest room the rest of the gang were in. Then he figured out how pathetic he sounded as he resisted the urge to backhand one of the bratty kids.

"Argh!" he screamed, kicking a chair leg.

"Hey look it's _her_!" he heard someone said. The kid's heads all snapped up. Suddenly, they were all backing away from the front door where a petite little girl was standing. The next thing he saw was a mass of frizzy red hair barreling through the crowd and into the guest room.

"Janice! Wait!" Ponyboy said as he scrambled towards her. When he finally reached the door, Janice slammed it in his face and neck snapped back. Ponyboy tumbled to the ground and hit his back on the wall.

"Janice?" Ponyboy heard someone say as he rubbed his ever-so-painful face. Seconds later, the door opened and he saw Soda's worried expression.

"Ponyboy?" he said surprised. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, feeling the blood creep up to his cheeks. He grabbed Soda's calloused hand and pulled himself up.

Janice had thrown her arms around her big brother neck. He was saying something to her, but she had pulled her lips into a frown and kept shaking her head back and forth, which made her endless hair fly all around her neck.

"You want me to talk to this girl for you?" Two-Bit asked sounding slightly concerned.

"No!" she said quickly.

"Will you go out there then?" Two-Bit said. Janice shook her head again. "Well you either go out there, or I'll have to assume it's something serious."

Janice pondered over this for a little bit. "I don't want you to go out there." she said finally.

"Then you go out there." Two-Bit replied. Janice frowned, but Two-Bit's face harden. Finally, Janice got to her feet and started to trudge out the door as slower than Pony had ever seen a person walk.

Ponyboy sighed in frustration as he shoved past Janice and ran back into the living room. He jumped in surprise to see all of the kids backed up into the corner. The ones towards the inside of the crowd had both fear and anger in their eyes and the braver ones were sticking their tongue out and blowing raspberries.

Looking to the other side of the room, he saw that tiny girl from earlier who looked like she was six. She was casually piling her materials in front of her. Every once in a while she would tilt her chin upwards and look around, her gaze looking straight past everyone as if she was pretending none of the kids existed.

"She's mean." Ponyboy nearly hit the roof when he heard the tiny voice behind him. "She makes fun of everybody and makes them do what she wants them to." Janice continued casually ignoring Pony's shocked expression. "If they don't, she threatens them. Everyone hates her."

"Um.. okay?" Pony mumbled, rubbing his neck worriedly.

"But you'll protect us," she said. "Because you're big and strong and you don't care that she's a girl right?"

"Er… sure, why not?" Ponyboy replied, the color rising to his face again.

This was going to be the longest half-hour he'd ever have.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry it took six days to do this, so here is an extra long chapter!**

"Well that went pretty smoothly," Ponyboy said as he slammed door behind him.

"Ya mean that?" Darry asked, glancing up from his seat. Steve had left the moment the tutoring began and Two-Bit was driving Janice home, so now it was just the Curtis's and Dally.

"Oh, no, I'm not being sarcastic at all," Pony said bitterly. "I was completely okay with everything, even though all the kids seemed to hate me and would never even listen to me." he continued. "Oh and that one girl Janice hated? It was perfectly fine the way everyone kept either teasing her or cowering in fear from her which made it impossible to get attention from anyone."

Actually the tutoring hadn't been that bad. Some of the kids actually learned something and most of the girls seemed to stay quiet and none of them lashed out at him, but it was horrible enough that Pony wanted Darry to get a good idea of what he was putting him through before he opened another tutoring session.

"That's wonderful," Darry said, grinning. He got up from his chair. He stretched his arms behind him and yawned. "I'll go make sumthin' to eat," he mumbled, rubbing his tired eyes.

Ponyboy and Soda took one glance at each other and leaped in front of Darry, barricading the door. "No!" they both said in unison. Darry raised his eyebrows.

"You know what," Soda said quickly. We'll make dinner today, since you've been working so hard." he said shoving Darry back into the chair. The two of them fled the room and slammed the door shut behind them, before Darry could say a word.

"Holy…" Soda murmured when he saw the living room. Most of the mess was still their from before the tutoring had started and Pony had calmed everyone down.. Silverware was scattered over the kitchen counter. The seats of Darry's prized sofa was no longer intact and scraps of paper filled with illegible writing and unidentifiable drawing lay all around the floor. Not to mention the crumbs that littered the carpet, even though none of them handed out any food.

"You know," Soda said as he began putting back the silverware. "We need to think this through a little more next time."

"Ya think?" Pony said, laughing sourly. It wasn't that Ponyboy disliked kids, it was just that they were so hard to teach and asked millions of questions about the simplest things that Pony understood in seconds.

A few minutes later Dally joined the them in the living room.

"You really should clean this up," he said waving his hand around the area of the couch. "Considering your dear friend will be sleeping here tonight."

"You're staying here?" Ponyboy asked incredulously, not even caring how rude he sounded. Besides, it was _Dally_.

The seventeen-year-old laughed. "You think I'm here to hang?" he said with a grin. "If that's what I wanted I would be over at Buck's or the Shepard's place. Why would I be here for fun when Darry runs this place?" he laughed to himself again.

"I heard that you freeloaded," Pony heard his older brother call from the guest room.

"Ah!" Ponyboy turned to see Soda leap a few feet back. He scrambled over to him to see it was nothing but the little girl that caught all the kids' attention before the class began. Seconds later, he heard Dally howl again.

"You were spooked by that?" he laughed, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye. "You little wuss." Soda blushed.

"Sorry," he apologized to the kid. "Didn't see you there." he mumbled nervously.

"It's okay," she said impassively, tipping her head back. This time, both Soda and Pony jumped at the same time. The anger in her eyes was so excruciating. Ponyboy didn't think a little comment on her height would do that to her. Even though her eyes were the same color as white ice, they still looked like they were on fire, a mixture on negative emotions burning around her pupils. Somehow, those eyes seemed awfully familiar to Ponyboy.

Soda was the first to speak. "Shouldn't your parents be here by now." he looked around as if to further point out she was the only kid still there.

She glared at him. "Class only ended five minutes ago." she retorted, her eyes hardening.

"Hey," Ponyboy said changing the subject. "Didn't know they were teaching this stuff in first grade already." he said flipping through her notebook.

The girl flinched. "I'm _eight_." she snapped, pulling it out of Ponyboy's hands. "Didn't know they were teaching the mentally retarded that stuff either." Pony's eyes grew significantly in surprise.

"Little young to be sassy don't cha think?" Dally said, shoving his face right into her's.

Before either of them could say a word however, Soda grabbed Dally by the shoulders and pull him back. "Hey," he said, pushing Dally behind him. "What's your name?" he said quickly.

"Julia." she said promptly and turned her face away from mine, and began picking a loose thread from her dress and began to play with it.

Pony couldn't help but notice it was the kind of dress a greaser would wear. It was made of a scratchy fabric and was plain white without a pattern of any sort. A bow he assumed was supposed to be red was placed on her ribs, but it had been faded and bleached so many times, you could hardly consider it pink.

Her hair had been brushed back into a tight ponytail with a equally faded ribbon. Taking a good look at her, Ponyboy realize that her hair was actually a really pretty color. It instantly reminded him of the dark chocolates. The thing that prevented people from realizing that was how frizzy it was. There were a series of knots that followed her forehead to her neck and the ends of the ponytail pointing in all different direction.

A sharp knock on our door pulled Ponyboy away from his deep observations of the strange girl. Soda leaped at the occasion to get away from the obvious awkwardness of having Julia here.

"Oh hey," Soda said softly as he opened the door. Pony peeked past his shoulder to see a girl on the other side of him.

Her forehead barely reached the hollow of Soda's neck. She was wearing a yellow-tinted transparent blouse and a skirt the barley touched her knees. The first thing he thought was that this girl was defiantly a greaser.

"Um.. Hi." she said motioning her palm in a half-circle when no one said anything. "I'm here for Julia?"

"Oh yes, of course," Soda mumbled. He swung around on his heel. "Julia your… uh," Soda looked at the girl's forehead, dropped them down to her feet, and back at her head again.

"Ali?" the little girl said, arriving next to Soda.

"Sister," she said quickly. She held her palm in front of her. "Alice." Soda curled his fingers around it and shook if firmly.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Dally shouted from the house. "I need some sleep." He pushed himself of the chair and towards the front, door, rubbing his eyes. When he saw Alice, he froze, looked her up and down once and said "Little young, to be a teen mom aren't cha?"

Alice's jaw tightened. "I am not a teenage mom, I am her sister, I am sixteen and my parents are working right now."

"You are _not _sixteen." Dally replied, sounding certain of himself. Ponyboy couldn't see why. He believed she was sixteen just fine. He was only fourteen but he was still almost taller than her. Besides, she couldn't be older than Two-Bit anyways.

"Yes I am." she said tightly. "I'm sixteen and, this is my sister." The next thing Pony saw was the two of them glaring at each other. His blue eyes drilled into her hardened brown ones as Ponyboy tried to read their emotions. There was something there that was neither annoyance, anger, or confidence. What was it? Curiosity?

Finally, Dally broke the link. "You know what?" he said throwing his arms up. "I don't have time for this," he said. Then he reached across Soda's chest and slammed the door shut.

"That was rude." Soda said.

**A few minutes later…**

"Ali?" Julia asked me, as we drove back to our apartment. "Why weren't any of the students one of the rich kids?" she said as she pulled the tight ribbon from her hair.

I shrugged. "Beats me." I mumbled.

"Well _I _think it's weird because everyone says Ponyboy is the smartest kid in the school!" she said.

I laughed to myself. "So that's his name?"

"So why don't any of the rich kids come. I mean not everyone there were poor, but none of the people like Vanessa were there." she continued. Then she added. "Vanessa wasn't there either."

_Because the Socs are too full of themselves_ _to suck up there pride _I say to myself. "Because they probably have tutors on their side of town." I say to Julia.

"Oh," she said. Even though she accepted the answer, she did try too hard to cover up the fact that she didn't believe me. "Hey, do you know that kid with the blonde hair?"

"No, why?"

"He looks familiar." Julia said bouncing in her seat.

"How would you know?" I say. "You haven't even known anyone his age until today." I bit my lip. Truth be told, he did look awfully familiar. You don't exactly forget a guy that looked like him with his hair neither greased or combed like a Socs, and with the shape of his face, I suspected he broke numerous broken bones up there. Glaring at him unblinkingly for five minutes helped me draw those observations. The thing was, however, I needed Julia to disregard any suspicions she might have about a certain person. I've seen the way her face slowly lost it's gleam after days of searching the streets of Tulsa for him.

"You know what?" I say. "You've seem to have a lot of questions tonight. Ever gonna tell me how the tutoring went?"

"Oh," she said, her excited smile falling off her face. "Well, Janice was there, but she didn't say anything to me so I didn't say anything to her. Plus, all the kids were really scared of me but I didn't do anything to them because you say not to when there is someone older in the room." she said, blinking her eyes at me.

Part of me knew she was kissing my butt because of that dress, but the other part said to savor it while it lasted.

"That's wonderful Jewels," I said, smiling at her. "But what about the actual tutoring?"

"Well, Ponyboy-" I choked back another snicker. "-gave us a bunch of math problems to do, them he visited each of us and taught us some reading stuff." her lips pulled into a pout. "He thought was in _first _grade."

I smiled and rubbed her loose hair. "That's because you're so adorable." I cooed and pinched one of her cheeks, as I pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building.

"I am not!" she shrieked defensively, as she smacked my wrist. I laughed again. I knew how much she hated to be called adorable or cute but I loved to get a kick out of reactions. Besides, she does the same thing to me, which is exactly why I try to keep my boyfriends a secret from her. Well that, and the fact that it changes almost every week.

"But you are," I said in a high pitched voice. I twisted my key out of the car. "You're the most adorable thing in the world, you little girl." I jump out of the car and scrambled into the building.

"I am not, not, _not,_ little," she yelled, chasing me up the flight of stairs. When we reach the door of my apartment, I scooped her up in my arms and pulled the keys to the apartment from the pocket of my jacket, which she kicked to the floor.

"Jewels!" I said, dropping her a little too quickly to pick them up.

"Ow!" she yelped as her rear hit the carpet. "That was mean!" she sulked. I grinned and her face began to flush like a ripe tomato until she finally burst out laughing. "That isn't funny!" she said anyways.

I laughed, took her hand, and carried her into out apartment. "Go take a bath." I said with a yawn when we reached the bathroom. I handed her, her nightgown. She took it from my hand and trudged into the bathroom.

"You still need my help taking a bath?" I shout after her.

"No!" I smiled and let myself fall onto the bed.

By the time Julia had finished her bath, I had changed into a filthy white t-shirt, a short red skirt that was just above my knees. Julia's face fell when she saw me.

"Do you have to go today?" she said quietly.

"Of course I do sweetie," I murmured, wrapping her up in a hug. "I have to go everyday, you know that."

"Yeah," she mumbled quietly.

"Come on," I say, laying her down on the bed. "I'll be back before morning." I took the thin blue bed sheet and pulled it over her shoulders, tucking her into bed.

"You promise?"

"I promise," I said confidently. "G'night Jewels," I say, giving her a kiss on her forehead before heading out to the car again once again.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes which no doubtedly, had dark circles beneath them.

During the day, I worked at a gas station that opened at nine in the morning, which meant that even though I told her not to, Julia would wake up an hour before she needed to, to wave me goodbye. My shift ended at three which was when I picked Julia up from school. Then after _that _, I had about three hours to myself before I had to get dressed and prepare myself. I worked a few night shifts as a bar waitress which explains the unimportant, temporary boyfriends, and after that was over, I also had to work as a janitor there which usually took until one in morning. If there is one thing I'd like to say, is that drunk people don't generally tip very well, and yet the mess they leave gets bigger and bigger everyday.

I know better to complain though, since I lost my last (and much better paying) job because I threatened to quit. Well, look how that worked for me, Besides, I had Julia and keeping her required a lot of money.

When I reached the bar, it was only fifteen minutes until my shift started, so I parked my car behind the building where no one could see, peeled off my shoes, and curled up on the hood of the car. I whipped a cigarette out of my own pocket and began to take deep puffs of smoke, as I used my precious time to think.

_Only a few years passed after my brother ran away was when I realized I needed to get away from New York. The police were on to us. Not only that, but questions had risen around us about our background. Why are you always on the street? Where are your parents? Why do you have a kid with you? As time passed by. Time and time again, I would thank the stars that my mistakes didn't take Julia away from me, or send either of us to an orphanage._

_One day, things went too far. I don't remember exactly what happened that day, what exactly I did, or what was so horrible about it, but I do remember the whining sound of a police car chasing us down the street. I do remember the policeman getting out and telling us about orphanages and other places like that, and I do remember him telling us to get in the car. Most of all, however, I remember pulling out a switchblade, slitting his tires, and running away before he realize what just happened._

_We asked around for a while, about the whereabouts of my brother. Soon enough we found out about a city in Tulsa where he was suspected to run off to._

_Julia was thrilled. I was fifteen at that time, and she, four. She was so excited about seeing the big brother that I couldn't manage to keep a secret from her. I think she must have expected a warm, caring brother who would look out for her. Man, she was in for a big disappointment. Heck, God knows if he even remembers her._

_We hopped on a one-way train to Tulsa. We were no longer Alice and Julia Reynolds, we were Alice and Julia Cunningham. We weren't two runaways from New York, we were two children who inexplicably moved from Texas. No one asked why, no one cared either. We generally stayed on the outside of the town so not to arouse too much attention. We weren't much to anyone, in fact at least a year had pass before I decided that friends were okay to have._

_We did search for our brother though. We asked around for Dallas Reynolds. We asked if anyone if they knew of a teenaged blonde boy with blue eyes and elfish features who was about thirteen. Thirteen, the exact same age I was when he abandoned us._

_I remember the first day we went out to look for him. Alice had worn her prettiest dress, which wasn't saying a lot, and didn't say a word as I brushed her thick hair into a bun. She skipped down the streets with a smile on her lips as she asked innocently for a boy named Dallas Reynolds, as I sulked back shyly in the background._

_But slowly, the smile had faded from her face. People gave us weird when she asked. I assumed it was because having a name like Dallas had done that. As wide as the range of emotions were, they were all negative._

"_You shouldn't be here by yourselves," and old couple had told us._

"_Little girls shouldn't be asking that," said an adolescent boy who wasn't much older that I was._

"_Wouldn't you like to know," A teenager even laughed at us one time._

_At one point, a shy timid boy about seventeen or sixteen looked at us strangely then he open his mouth as if to give a valid answer, but then he simply closed it. As if it wasn't something to be talked about._

_I guess he was here at one point. Here long enough for people to get a good impression of the nasty person he was, but now he was gone. He must have jumped a train and left state. For all I know, he could be in Montana or something. I was disappointed, sure I wanted some help and some money, but what I felt was nowhere close to how Julia reacted._

_As time passed, she stopped skipping and I even had to drag her along as we went. She didn't brush her hair anymore, and her fashion choices were no longer exclusive. One time, she even asked for a Dallas Cunningham, and when the man laughed, she her eyes started to water, but then quickly became murderous. I was afraid she was going to punch him but she just walk away. Later at night however, I heard her sobbing quietly under my arm._

_The day we stopped looking was the day I stopped caring. I didn't need my little brother, I had gotten a job and later on, a car. I didn't need a brother who would be a burden rather than a help. When I walked down the streets, I don't look for a young man with glassy blue eyes. I don't pass a teen with white blonde hair and ask myself, _is that your brother?_ Even if I don't care about him anymore, I know Julia does._

_I notice. I notice the way, she looks around frantically and turns around a little too much when a crowd walks down on the streets. I notice the way she stops and stares when she sees a man of Dallas's description. She never says anything though. She'd never ask anyone herself if they were her brother, but I still see the longing and temptation in her eyes. I also know she will never say anything to me about it. She'd never admit how much she wanted him and how betrayed she felt. But I can tell._

_Like I said before though, I don't need my brother. I don't care, miss or want him anymore. I don't need someone so insolent as to desert me like he did. I don't need my brother. I mean that. I don't even think about him at all. I don't even hate him anymore. I just feel nothing at all about him, because that's how little he means to me._

_I don't care about my brother._

_I don't care about my brother._

_I don't care about my brother._

_I don't care about my brother._

_I don't care about my brother._

_I don't care about my brother._

_**I don't care about my brother.**_

**Few Hours later, at the Curtis's' home**

Dallas Winston took a big whiff of his cigarette and rubbed his bare shoulders. He had gotten out of the house to take a smoke and had pressed his back against the wired fence that circled the Curtis home.

The last time Dally had taken a smoke indoors, he nearly set their house on fire, which was why he wasn't allowed to sleep in the guest room anymore. And why Darry hid the cigarettes when any of the gang was over.

The bitter cold was the last thing on the teen's mind though. _Alice_, he thought to himself, instantly deciding he didn't like her. It was more than just a dislike, though, because even if he never met her beforehand, he knew she was trouble.

_Alice. _He had known on person with that name in his lifetime, and the memories weren't exactly pleasant. If anything, it was a reminder of his horrid life in New York. The girl's sister wasn't too wonderful either. She was nothing but a bratty kid who was too mouthy for her own good. Besides, everyone knows how much Dallas Winston hated kids.

He snorted when he though of her claim to sixteen. Even if she was as tall as a teenager, she definitely wasn't one. Dally understood stuff like that firsthand, since he and some of his friends would go to a bar and claim they were twenty-one. He knew exactly what a teenager should and shouldn't look like, and she defiantly wasn't one. The little girl claimed to be eight so she must have been pretty young when she got knocked-up.

_Alice_. He sighed as he dropped the cigarette, grinding it into smithereens under his heel. He got up and wrapped his arms around each other, preserving the heat in his body, now that the burning weed was gone. He trudged towards the house, trying to forget about what happened today. Dally had enough to his life than to add stress into the mixture. He couldn't even think about her without thinking of the older sister in New York without stirring up some anger within him. When he reached the house, he laid himself down on the couch and closed his eyes. He decided on Thusdays when the tutoring sessions were held, he wouldn't go to the Curtis's. Even if the law was after him, he could just go to the more obvious place of the Shepards.

**A/N: How did you guys like that chapter? I'm sorry about those bolded "meanwhile," and "at the same time" but I don't know how else to point out, I'm shifting to a different scene. **

**If you haven't figured this out already, all three of them had their last name changed for the sake of privacy, but they were all originally the Reynolds.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Char," Alice said, stepping into the kitchen, as she pulled her jacket off and tossed it into the corner.

Charlotte Neilson glanced up from the wine glass she was polishing. "You're here early." she said, wiping her hands on a slime-ridden towel. "Your shift doesn't start for ten minutes."

"Yeah, I know." Alice said as she plopped down on a chair and began to pick at a loose nail on the armrest. "I didn't really have much to do today." He eyes widened and she suddenly threw he hands in front of her, as if she was trying to protect herself from an invisible force. "Don't expect me to do any work though," she said quickly.

"Aw, shucks," Charlotte said, grinning, as she plucked an empty wine bottle from the bucket of salivated cups.

Alice yawned and arched her back into a stretch. "Is boss around?" she asked, glancing around the small kitchen.

Charlotte shook her head. "He left the store to Luke, over there," she said thumbing towards the general direction of a drunk thirty-year old, passed-out in the corner. The two friends howled in laughter at the stupidity of it all. "Lucky you," Charlotte said, her grin spreading all the way across her face. Even though Alice was too paranoid to say anything about it to him, she didn't exactly try to hide the fact that she believed him to be a moron. It was the days when he was out that you'd really see how dirty Alice's mouth could be.

Alice gave toothy grin. "Kay, I'm gonna get a drink." she said, getting off the chair.

"Don't get caught!" Charlotte shouted after her.

"I won't if you keep your mouth shut!" Alice yelled back.

As soon as she was gone, Charlotte dropped the glass bottle into the sink and left it there, floating in the murky puddle of water. Her shift didn't officially end until she was done with the dishes, but Luke wasn't exactly a perfect candidate to leave in charge. In fact, the only reason he was here, was because he was an ex-bartender who knew about some of the boss's more err… illegal items and demanded a job to keep his trap shut.

Besides, if the boss figured out she left early, Luke would be to blame. Most of the waitresses here weren't exactly honest or trust-worthy. Alice was a fine example of this.

Charlotte curled her bottom lip as she thought about the blonde. They were best friends ever since Alice got fired from some fancy restaurant downtown, and was desperate enough to get a job at the bar. Even so, neither of them were the quality friends you wanted and both of them were very prone to backstabbing. In fact, just a few days ago, Alice had stolen one of her ex-boyfriends.

Okay, maybe they dated over three months ago, maybe they both knew that none of any of the bar-related boyfriends were ever anything serious, and maybe Charlotte had done similar thing to Alice, but still. Best friends didn't do that to each other.

Charlotte sighed. Alice was one of the most intriguing people she'd ever met. She always manages to verbally hate on everyone and be open to express those thoughts, but as soon as a figure of authority came by, she would never say a single word of defiance word. She never even looked them in the eyes, and instead, escape at any possible chance. Of course, as soon as that figure of authority left, she'd rant about how he or she was getting all up into everyone's business.

She was also extremely unhealthy. She'd come to the bar, to gorge herself on leftovers and take a piece or two of the food that was served. She'd also chug some beer before she worked, and even though she'd already be drugged enough with all those cigarettes she smoked.

Despite her eating habits, she'd always come to work pale faced and with dark rims beneath her eyes. At work she was okay. She was reckless and free, putting an obnoxious face for the cook and squeezing male customers for tips, but anytime she and the girls went out, she always be constantly stressed. She'd look over her shoulders every five seconds. Her hands were usually playing with her hair and she'd bite her lip. She would always look frail and weak, and Charlotte would hold her breath, waiting for her friend to collapse on the floor. Plus, she always had to go home early.

Not to mention that kid she always just _had _to have around her. Seriously, if she just ditched that bratty toddler, she would have more money and she wouldn't be so skinny and not as many people would gossip so much about her.

Even so, Alice stuck to the child like glue. The worst part was the instant change in Alice when she was around. She was suddenly no longer that rough, cuss-like-a-sailor, I-don't-give-a-damn girl she was at work, but instead she became much kinder and careful, like the kid was a shard of glass that would shatter at the slightest sound. Charlotte smiled to herself as she thought about what the kid would do if she saw the other side of her sister.

Even though there was a good amount of jealousy and hate amidst all the waitresses, everyone was friends there. With a job like that, you needed as much back-up as you could get.

Charlotte smiled in relief as she flung the door open without a single word from Luke. The crack of the open door released a breath of wind into the bar and tossed Charlotte's think curly hair behind her. She grinned as kicked a pebble out of her way and left the bar.

* * *

I drained less than half the bottle of the alcoholic liquid before I stopped. I couldn't get too drunk since I was going to be here for a number of long hours. I could finish it after, I told myself as I hide it under the kitchen counter.

I do drink a little too much, and my job released me to a limitless supply of beer. But I wasn't an alcoholic anymore than I was addicted to cigarettes. I would never be addicted to anything. There was nothing more I hated than losing the feeling of being in control, and there was absolutely no way I would let it go. It made me feel weak and vulnerable and open to attack. Nothing in my life, I had ever done without knowing it was exactly what I wanted and needed to do, and that I had been in control of myself.

There were things I couldn't control such as, Julia's temper tantrums, how much money I had or what my little brother may or may not have done, but _I _control what _I _do.

I sighed and wiped the corners of my mouth with my wrists and grabbed an apron from the rusted rack. I glanced up at the clock, realizing my shift had started three minutes ago. I glanced at the area beneath the clock and saw that Luke was still passed out. Everything was going fine, I decided as quickly pulled the bottle out and took my last sip.

"Table eight!" Our so-called chef yelled from his cooking area. Two platters piled high with cheap greasy food accompanied by a large bottle of wine appeared on the counter.

"Got this one!" I yelled snatching the food up before anyone else could. Someone who'd ordered that much beer and that much food meant they had plenty of cash. Drinking a bottle of beer that big meant they were going to get quite drunk. And _that _meant that there was a bigger chance of shaking an extra dollar or two of a "tip" from them.

Six hours later, I had finished scrubbing the floors spotless -_fine_, it was clean enough- and piled the tables and stacked the chairs into neat piles stuffed in the corner. I left the bar with seven dollars worth of tips in coins, clanging in the pocket of my denim jacket, of which, I have to say, did not do much for my icicle-clad arms.

The first thing I saw was a flurry of lights and the sound of giggles coming from behind the bar where my precious car was parked. The second thing I saw were a trio of teenage girls piled inside it, all three laughing their faces off.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I said sharply, interrupting their little fun session.

"Is this your car ma'am?" one of them said with false sweetness and an amused smile plastered over her make-up chalked face. My pulse quickened.

"Yes," I said firmly, pressing my lips together.

The girl in the driver's seat reared her head back a laughed, her eyes glistening with tears. That's when I realized she was dangerously drunk. I've seen those girls at the bar before. The oldest one was only around eighteen and everyday they would pay Sandra, one of the waitresses, a truckload of money to be let into the bar.

"Too bad," she said with a wild smile on her face. "This is too good of a car to let go." she mumbled, her voice slightly cracking.

"I'm gonna call the cops if you don't get right now!" I said sharply, narrowing my eyes. That was a lie. Even if they'd tried to mug me or something, I still couldn't call the police. Julia and I had stayed in the shadows long enough to establish that we couldn't get mixed up with the law. Meaning no hospital visits, no driver's license for me, so I had to drive "safely" and under no circumstances would we get mixed up in the court. If any of that were to happen, Julia would've been pried from my arms and I'd probably end up in jail for kidnapping. However, these girls didn't have to know.

"Call them!" she shouted, her voice loud enough for the whole town to hear. "I don't care!" she said grinning. "My boyfriend will come and beat your ass up!"

"Oh yeah?" I said shakily, feeling very testy right now. "Who's your boyfriend?"

"Dally," she said with a proud smile. "Dallas Winston. Dammit, he's the toughest hood in town." her eyes filled with satisfaction from my look of surprise. It wasn't exactly what she though it was though.

_Dallas Winston. Must be some other Dallas_, I thought. But then again, how many people in this world have a name like Dallas? Why didn't anyone tell me? When I searched the streets asking for Dallas Reynolds, why didn't anyone say "Don't you mean Dallas Winston?"

"He's the toughest hood in town." the girl had said. Somehow, that description seemed to fit my Dallas. The Dallas who fought both physically and verbally with me, and the same Dallas who broke my nose with a fierce punch back in New York.

But it wasn't him, I reminded myself. My Dallas -no wait, not _my_ Dallas, the Dallas I remember- was long gone by now. That brother of mine had left me when I was thirteen and as much as I once wished for it, I'd never see him again. Nor do I care to see him again anymore, because I'm over it, I learned to move on in life _without _him.

"Sylvie?" I swung around on my heel to see another teenager standing on the corner of the small space behind the bar. "Kathy? Evie?" she said incredulously, at the other two girls who had sat in the backseat who did nothing but exert another giggle.

"Shit!" she said angrily. "Dammit, you guys, dammit!" she shouted. She shoved past me before I could say a word. "You-" she continued with a string of nasty words that I've only hear come out of the mouth of my boss. "Get outta of the friggin' car." she swung her dark blonde hair in my direction. Her eyes connected with mine, and I realized that not only was there anger in her expression, but fear too.

"I'm so sorry," she blurted out to me. "_Please_ don't call the cops." she begged, looking anxiously towards her tiny group of friends. "I'm really sorry about that, I was supposed to go out with them, but I had a date, and whenever we do this, I usually have to remind them when they have to stop, and I wasn't here today and I know I should've-" her eyes widened. "Not that we do this often." she said quickly. "Jus' a one or two time thing ya know?"

"C'mon Sandy," said the bolder one with the dark hair. "We have dates tonight don't you remember?" she yawned and rested her head on Sandy's shoulder.

"That's tomorrow Sylvia," Sandy said as she wrapped her fingers around her hand and lead her away. The other two followed like obediently little puppies that were too tired to fight.

The one called Sandy swung around, just before the four of them were almost out of sight. "Oh, and please, please, _please_ don't say anything about this. Promise if won't happen again!" she said trying to sound happy. "Bye!"

I blinked my eyes a few times, not really sure what just happened. Then I let my knees buckle and I felt my back hit the hood of my car. I gazed up at the starless sky, feeling very tired. What time was it now? Eleven o'clock? Midnight? Even after that? I rubbed my eyes. Julia would've been sound asleep in her bed for a few hours now. I groaned as I picked myself off the car, telling myself how disappointed my little sister would be if I didn't show up in the morning.

After a long silent ride back to the apartment building, I had opened the creaky door so quietly as not to wake Julia up, that it took, nearly three minutes. I ripped my shoes of my sore feet, and ruffled my hair around my head, tearing a few strands loose.

The second I flopped down on the couch, ready to fall asleep, a shrill shriek busted from beneath me. I yelped and leaped off the bed, snatching the nearest object I touched (the TV remote). My eyes widened in horror when I saw it was just my little sister, who'd fallen asleep on the couch.

"Why are you here?" I said angrily, frustrated and upset that she was putting yet another thing on me after the day I just had, and how she was taking valuable minutes of sleep from me.

"What are you talking about?" she said, she said nervously glancing down at her feet which she had curled inward, so that her toes were touching, while her ankles were point out.

"You were supposed to go to bed when I left!" I shouted, not caring about how loud I was. Besides, we'd probably woken up half the building with out screaming.

"I did!"

"Then why are you here instead of _in the bed_." I said slamming my fist on the table, wishing I'd finished that bottle of beer.

"I couldn't go to sleep!" she said, raising her voice to match mine. "I wanted you to be here with me. I can see you don't seem to care about that though!" she yelled. She spun around as ran down the hallway, as her attempt at a dramatic exit, and slammed the door behind her.

My eyes softened and I bit my lip. I squeezed my hand into a tighter, trying to tear out my anger. "Jewels wait." I said scrambling after her. When I opened the door, Julia had flopped down on the bed and was sobbing into her pillow.

"Julie," I said quietly. I reached my arm around her waist and tried to pry her from the bed.

"No!" she snapped, slapping my hand away. My temper flared in my belly, but I forced it down.

"Julia," I murmured, resting my head on her back. "I'm so sorry about that," I whispered, snaking my arms around her stomach and giving her a tight hug.

My heart churned. Part of me wanted to scream until my head pop off and tear the curtains down while I throw Julia out the window. I wanted to tell her to go to hell and that I had too much going on to handle her insignificant little problems.

The other, smarter and more considerate part of me told myself that Julia was young, and that I should be happy that she loved me and proud that she looked up to me the way I did. Besides, I reminded myself as I rub her back, she was my little sister and I cared about her too much to push her hard enough until she hated me.

My little sister lifted her head from her pillow. "I didn't want you to leave Me." she quietly, covering her face with her hair. She coughed back a sob. "I couldn't go to sleep without you, ya know."

I bit my lip again. I should have understood that. Every night, I'd comforted myself and pushed away my problems when I went to bed by listening to the soft beat of Julia's heart. I silently kicked myself for being angry all the time.

I picked her up and pulled into my lap, letting her head rest against my chest. "I'd never leave you, sweetie" I said into one of her small ear.

"I love you, Ali," she whispered into my neck, letting her tears touch my bare skin. "You promise not to leave me.?"

"I promise honey," I said softly. I sighed and tilted my head back and stared at the crusty white ceiling, which was on the verge of crumbling. "I'm really sorry, I had a bad day."

"I know," she said quietly. "I'm sorry.

My heart probably melted when she said that. I wanted to tell her it was okay and that is wasn't her fault, but not a sound escaped my lips. There were no words that needed to be spoken; she understood me anyways.

I pulled Julia into the bed with me, not caring that my clothes were filthy, and with my luck, probably tick infested. I kissed her head, letting the world around me slowly drift away, and allowing the black hole of sleep swallow me up until the only thing I could feel was my little girl curled up tightly in my arms.

_That day, I had felt really guilty about what I did. I wished I hadn't cussed out at Janice the way I did. I wished I hadn't been so mad at Alice when she yelled at me. I wished I had taken things from her point of view._

_I remind myself that I was young then, and that I didn't know any better. That wouldn't be very big of a truth though. I knew about things that I shouldn't have and I was even younger when I escape out to the cruel, cold, truth of the real world when I was very young, while the rest of the children my age stayed nestled up in their own little boxes of perfection._

_As I looked back on that day, I wished I had been more careful with Alice. I always knew she was crazy. That she was as close to shattering as someone could get, and that she was very unstable after everything that the world had forced her to take on._

_Maybe if I had been more careful and more considerate, maybe things would've ended differently for us._

**A/N: The point of this chapter was to point out that even though Alice isn't that great of a person, she still loves her sister very much. The Sylvia scene was for the purpose of causing Alice to question who Dally really is.**

**Next chapter will be much better, since I know exactly what I want to write and how it's going to tie in to the main plot of the story.**

**Okay, now you tell me how much you adore my story. LOL, I'm just kidding, do whatever you want as long as it's relevant and helpful. Keep in mind I'm looking for constructive criticism.**


	6. Chapter 6

Small orange and yellow leaves fluttered to the ground as I skipped down the grainy road. A smile spread across my lips and I laughed, tipping my head towards the sunlit sky. Today, I didn't care that I was in trouble, or that most of the kids still hated me for yesterday. All I could think of was that it was a Friday, and that it would be just a few hours until I would have two whole days all to myself.

That meant no more teachers and no more Vanessa or Janice. Plus, Alice wouldn't have to go to work. Maybe if I was really lucky, she'd take me to the bar, instead of saying I was too young to go. Even though I am eight, I am very mature. I even heard Alice tell one of her friends that I knew much more than a kid my age should, which also means I am very smart.

I kicked a rusty brown pebble on my way, awakening the soft blanket of autumn tainted leaves, to revealing a direct concrete path towards the large elementary school building.

I pushed my way pass the gate, bowing my head down, not even daring to make eye contact. Vanessa had so many friends, and I was sure she'd told everyone what I supposedly did, except in her own twisted little version of it. Today was Friday, and I didn't want anything to ruin this rare good mood I was in.

I stepped with in the crowd, going with the flow and letting it carry me all the way to the front door.

Even when I reached that destination, I waited until I was alone in the hallway before I tipped my head high and tried to hold a confident and cold expression on my face, the way Alice did when we went out together. I wished I could be like Alice; I wished I could act like I was proud of myself they way she did. Not that I wasn't proud, since I was very mature and smart, I just wished I had the guts to show everyone in school how wonderful I really was.

When the bell rang and kids began flooding into the hallways, I dropped my head and disappeared into the crowd, taking small steps until I reached Mrs. Nesbit's room.

When I stepped into the classroom, clutching my books tightly in my hands, I saw that little brat Janice, pushing her way out the door. When she swept past me she suddenly froze and turned around to look at me. I glared at her, trying to make her feel intimidated.

But of course, Vanessa herself leapt to Janice's rescue. She slung her arm around Janice's shoulder and her exclusive group of buddies followed suite, reminding me of a pack of robots. She whispered something into Janice's mass of curly hair and they both turned their heads around towards me and giggled.

My cheeks flushed and I tried to make my eyes seem more fierce, but they just giggled again. Then Vanessa grabbed Janice's wrist and yanked her out the door, taking a quick peek back at me.

I swung my head around and glanced at Mrs. Nesbit, silently warning her about the two girls about to ditch class. When she didn't move, I scrambled to her desk.

"Mrs. Nesbit," I said, narrowly dodging a small boy on the way.

"What is it Julia?" She said tiredly, lowing her glasses to she could peer over them and at me.

"Vanessa and Janice are trying to play hooky!" I said loud enough for the entire class to turn around and stare at me.

"Excuse me?"

"Vanessa and Janice are leaving the classroom," I said frantically, waving at them, desperate for Vanessa to get in trouble.

"Vanessa?" the teacher said calmly without half the bitterness she had when she addressed me.

"Janice forgot her book at home," She piped up. "I'm taking her to the coat room so I can give her my extra one in my backpack."

"Oh," Mrs., Nesbit said, staring at me accusingly. "Well, go on."

Vanessa smiled sweetly and pulled Janice out of the room.

Mrs. Nesbit turned to look at me. "Next time Julia," she said stiffly. "_Ask _for the whole story before you go tattle to me."

A scream of fury flared in my throat, my I forcefully kept it inside. I felt so humiliated. Why did Vanessa get everything she wanted, I though sulkily. It wasn't fair, that she'd never get in trouble when I _always _did.

I bit my lip, and leaned my forehead against the small wooden table, hiding my face. Sometimes, it only took a few minutes to ruin someone's good day.

* * *

Sandy Fords crossed her legs impatiently as she surveyed the school grounds for her friends.

It had been nearly a day since she drove them home and gave each and every one of their parents a reason for their absence, and she was _still _waiting for an apology for being such idiots and a thank you for saving their asses.

Sandy finally relaxed her stiffened back when she saw a group of three, elbow there way out of the wave of students.

Sylvia Winters skipped towards the circular table Sandy was seated at. Her curly blonde hair bounced around her shoulders and she swept through the crowd of jealous looks directing at the space between her thighs. Her waist had been shoved in a sky blue colored dress that pressed the dress codes. It got angry looks from teachers and murmurs of "slut" throughout the leering students, but Sylvia held her head high not once giving a sign the she heard it, or swinging around to deny anything.

"Sandy!" she squealed, throwing her arms out in front of her, welcoming a hug.

Kathy Miller and Evelyn Brown followed the young girl, their arms hooked together at the elbow, and a smile on there faces as they giggled about new crushes and the school's gossip.

"What the hell, you guys?" Sandy blurted out before she could stop herself.

"What?" Kathy questioned innocently, her eyes wild with excitement.

"Do you guys even remember what happened last night?" Sandy replied incredulously.

"Oh _that's _why you're so mad." Kathy said, hiding a grin with the fingers on her right hand.

"Of course that's why I'm mad!" Sandy shouted, causing a few surprised looks from surrounding students to fall on her. "Do you _know _what could've happened if I wasn't there?" she said furiously, lowering her voice.

"Sandy," Sylvia said. Even though her voice was gentle, it was anything but serious and was coated with amusement. "You need to relax." she said smirking.

Sandy didn't even reply that time. Her friends were unbelievable. They could've ended up in jail if it wasn't for her quick thinking. Then again, then they would be neck to neck with their boyfriends if that happened.

Sandy smiled proudly to herself. Steve, Dally, Two-Bit, and even Darry, the responsible hard-ass had been arrested at least once, but not Sodapop. Her perfect boyfriend would _never _let that happen to him, he was too kind and gentle, unlike those other delinquents.

"So you're not even going to say sorry?" Sandy asked.

Evie shrugged the dark hair off her shoulders. "We're sorry," she said, as if something that simple would fix everything.

Sandy blinked twice, too surprised to be angry. She opened her mouth and snapped it shut, and did it again twice, before pushing herself off her seat and stomping away to look for Soda. At least he would understand her frustration.

"What was that all about?" Evie asked, smirking to herself.

Kathy shrugged. "She thought we were going to get arrested." she said half laughing.

Evie grinned. "She's always so uptight." she said. "She needs to learn to relax and have fun."

Kathy snorted, running her hand through her hair. "Because that is _so _likely to happen." The girls laughed.

"Sylvie?" Evie said suddenly. Kathy glanced at Sylvia, who's eyes were glued to the large bulk of people, her jaw set and her fists clenched.

"Sylll-viaa," Evie said again, waving her hand in front of her face jokingly "Spacing out again?"

Sylvia scowled and slapped her hand away. "Why is _he _here," she snapped, glaring at an unseen person in the crowd. "He doesn't even go to school." she said, flushing angrily. "Hood, better not be cheatin' on me again," She said, getting to her feet.

"Who, Dally?" Kathy asked. Before Sylvia could reply she spoke again. "How do you know he isn't looking for you?" she questioned.

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "As if," she said bitterly. "Believe me, he wouldn't go through that much trouble to look for me," she said, almost mournfully. She frowned again. "I'm going to have a little talk with him," She said, getting up to her feet.

"Sylvs…" Kathy began, but the greaser girl was already halfway across the field.

* * *

"Hey Dallas," A pair of rough small hands suddenly closed around the muscles of Dallas's upper arm. The boy jumped.

"Sylvia?" he said in astonishment. "Why are you here?" he said without thinking twice. He kicked himself for his stupidity.

"Surprised to see me?" She said, her sweet voice dancing with anger. "I'm here because I go to school here," She continued. "Last time I checked, you never even went."

I didn't mean it like that, Sylvie-" he begun. Sylvia glared at him, cutting off his sentence.

"Why _are _you here anyways?" she said roughly. "It must be something important if you came all the way here to see…" she trailed off, looking up at Dallyand warning him to watch his mouth. "…your girlfriend," she said through clenched teeth.

"To see you of course," He said softy, working to a great extent to keep his annoyance kept inside. He bent down and tried to kiss Sylvia's forehead, but she placed her palms on his shoulders and push him away none too gently.

"You better be," she snapped, taking a step towards him, rolling to the balls of her feet, to make eye contact. Dally bit his lip. Even though she was almost a foot shorter than him, she always seemed to be the only person who could size him up. Maybe it was because she was so independent and cocky, and didn't need help from anyone. Or maybe it was just because Dally had too much pride than to hit a girl.

"I promise," He said, rolling his eyes.

"Good," Sylvia said, sounding very proud of herself. "Well now that you've seen me," she said, crossing her arms across her chest, "Guess ya better get goin'"

Dally almost said something, but then he thought better of it. "Course, baby," he mumbled.

He swung around on his heel and stared at the grass, shoving his hands in his pockets, not once breaking a stride to look back at Sylvia.

A furious Dally, pulled a cigarette from the pocket of his leather jacket. What was he thinking? He should've know something like this would've happened. He snorted. Everyone knew who Dallas Winston was. To most, he was an extremely dangerous filthy greaser of whom you should stay far away from at all cost. Not that his tacky clothing gave him much camouflage. He wasn't sure what could have possibly possessed him to come here.

It was pride, he decided, as he took a large intake of his cigarette. Guess he had just wanted to prove to Soda and Pony that that Alice girls was not sixteen. After he had slammed the door in her face, Soda asked if something was wrong with him. He wasn't even being indignant, Soda was actually worried about him Just because he had questioned her age.

Dally took a detour off the sidewalk and pushed his way through a clump of trees that Ponyboy used to call 'the woods' when he was little. He found the large stump where an old willow tree had once been brought down by storm was, and seated himself on it. Truthfully, he knew that sitting in a area surrounded by wood and smoking a cigarette at the same time, wasn't exactly the smartest idea, but he didn't care.

He was feeling very testy today. He didn't know if he was sick of people doubting him or if he just wanted to get Sylvia off his ass. He sighed, and tilted back until he was resting up against a large tree. If Mrs. Curtis was still alive, she would tell Dally is was because he was upset at himself for not being able to forget about Alice. That was as far from the truth as you could get though, because you have to remember, Dallas Winston cares for himself, and only himself.

* * *

"Would Julia Cunningham please report to the principal's office immediately?" I nearly fell off my seat at the sound of my name.

At the same time, Vanessa had just emerge from the hallways, _without_ Janice on her arm. When she saw me staring at her, she smiled and gave me a little wave. I whirled my head around to face the other direction.

"Julia," Mrs. Nesbit said. "Are you going?"

I nodded quietly, trying to take as much time as I could getting off my.

"Good luck Julia," Vanessa said as I passed her. Then she lowered her voice so Mrs. Nesbit couldn't hear. "I heard the principal hits all the bad kids," she said.

I stuck my tongue out at her and sneered at her. "Liar," I whispered. I turned and ran out the door before she could reply.

I bit my lip nervously as I took slow and small steps towards the dreaded destination. He wouldn't really hit a girl would he? I mean, I didn't really do anything wrong, because the teachers were always saying that sticks and stones will break someone's bones, but words will never hurt them. So basically, I didn't do anything wrong to Janice. A painful memory of a few girls running from the office crying flashed across my mind.

I froze, right there in the middle of the hallways, the office a few yards ahead and the front doors slightly further ahead. I considered how hard it would be to sneak past the principal and the teachers to break out of the school.

Before I could decide whether to make my great escape or not, the principal himself, had appeared in the doorway.

"Julia,' he said sternly. "What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing," I said quietly, as I began to walk towards him and his dreaded office. As I neared my destination, I began to realize I was getting closer and closer to the doors as well. It would be so easy just to run out of the school right now. Mr. Fords, the principal, might hit me. I've never been hit by anyone besides Alice, the few times she got really mad, but somehow, it wasn't acceptable for him to it.

"Julia," he said again, reading my mind. "No.' I stood in front of me, blocking my way, before roughly putting his hand on my back and half-nudging, half-shoving me into his office.

I soon as I stepped into the small cramped space, my blood went cold. There was nothing but a single wooden desk piled high with paper work, and three chairs in front of them. However, it was the eeriness of the room the shocked me, it was the little redheaded figure sitting in the seat the farthest to the right.

My jaw dropped open. _How could she? _Now I was going to get in trouble, Mr. Fords would hit me with a leather strap, and then I'll go home and when Alice will finds out, I'll get taken away from her. Of course, then after that she'll hate me forever. But why now? She just denied it yesterday, so why now?

I bit down on my lip so hard, I tasted blood. _Vanessa_. The answer was so simply. That's why she and Janice had to leave the room this morning, and that's why Vanessa was looking so smug when she entered the room. I felt like bursting into tears. It wasn't fair that she had to ruin everything for me. More importantly, _how _could she? Was it because she had more money, that everyone liked her better, or that she had better dresses that she could say or do anything that she wanted without criticism? _Maybe the rich kids do always win, _I thought to myself bitterly.

"Julia," Mr. Fords said roughly. "Do you remember what happened yesterday?" he asked.

I nodded. "I got sent here, because Vanessa tattled on me."

A small vein in Mr. Roger's neck started to turn blue. "Vanessa didn't tattle on you, she only told the truth. Telling the truth to help a friend is not tattling."

I shrugged.

"And do you know why you didn't get into as much trouble as you deserved?" he asked. "Because little Janice here was too considerate to try to get in trouble."

Considerate, my butt. He should have said scared, or wimpy or a crybaby.

Mr. Fords turned to the little traitor a chair away from me. "Janice, can you tell me what happened yesterday?"

Janice shook her head, her knuckles white against the lips.

"Janice," he said shakily. "Tell Julia what you told me a few minutes ago."

A wave of heat smashed across my face, and it was all I could do to not cry out. There was all the proof I needed. Proof that she told, and that the whole world hated me.

The little brat shook her head again.

Mr. Fords gave an unintelligible grunt of anger. "Well if you're not going to talk, I'll do it," he snapped. He whirled around to face me. "Janice told me that Vanessa's claim that you gave _very _crude remarks about her family is true." he said harshly. "Apparently, her mother is a, and I quote, disgusting whore?" his eyes drilled further into me. "Where did a little girl like you get such a dirty mouth?"

I looked down at my feet, not believing what was happening to me. Why was he being so mean? Why was he taking her side so easily? What did she have that I didn't? I don't think she's prettier than me, I'm more smart than she is, and I fairly certain that her family is no better off than Alice and I.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, clenching my fist to suppress my boiling temper.

Mr. Fords rotated his body towards me and stared right into my eyes. "Don't say that to me, say that to her."

"I'm sorry," I said shakily, turning towards Janice, but not daring to make eye contact. "I'm sorry that I said bad things about your family." I managed to choke out.

"I'm sorry that your family is as messed up as shit and that you can't just suck it up and admit it." I pasted on at the end. Except, I did it real quietly in my head so no one could hear.

Mr. Fords relaxed a bit. "Janice?" he said, nodding at her. "Are you feeling better now?" he asked her. She bobbed her head.

"Okay," he continued. "You can go back to class," he said pointing at the door. Janice swung her legs over her chair and started to retreat, her teeth chomping on her nails, and her eyes not meeting mine.

Mr. Fords turned to me and sighed, pressing his palm to his forehead. "Julia," he said quietly. "This isn't the first time you've been here, and honestly, I doubt it will be the last." he spoke. "I understand that your life isn't very easy, and you have a hard time…" he paused for a moment.

I gritted my teeth and started straight down at the floor, shaking my hair out so he couldn't he see my face. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the blow "….financially," he said finally, trying to catch a glimpse of my face.

"Julia?"

"Yeah," I managed.

He curled his lips up and folded his hands in front of him. "I didn't do anything about this before because I don't want anything bad to happen to your family, but," he sighed. "If something like this happens again, believe me," his voice rose a few notches. "You _will _get suspended. Do you understand?" he asked.

I brushed my hair away from my face, and glanced up at his face. I couldn't tell whether he was angry or pitiful, but I decided I was better of not knowing. "Yes, Mr. Fords." I said quietly.

He nodded. Hopefully, he was satisfied. "Okay," he said. "You may go join Janice back in class." He said, nodding me away.

_I rather not_, I thought silently, as I got up from my chair, trying to make my leave as quiet as I could.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my overalls and trudged back to Mrs. Nesbit's room, letting my back slouch as much as it could.

Today was supposed to be a good day; today, school was supposed fly over in seconds, and I would come home feeling happy about my day. Not that it ever happened before. I don't know why, but I felt so happy today, despite what happened yesterday, but to no surprise, everything came crashing down.

I gulped down my tears. Alice always says if I get suspended the government will know, and "bad things" could come out of that. Alice treated me like was an idiot, but I knew that by "bad things" she meant I might get sent to an orphanage. But that would never happen. I couldn't get a suspension, I mean, I've stayed out of trouble for this long. Besides, even if I did, they wouldn't take Alice away from me. Right?

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update!**

**I won't be a inconsiderate and threaten to delete my story or anything, but reviews do mean a lot to me. So remember, reviews=love, and love=me happy, and me happy=faster updates. Yes I know, I'm a brat.**


	7. Chapter 7

**READ THIS: If any of you read my profile, you would know that I am discontinuing this. Right now, I would like to elaborate on this. I actually have had this chapter written for awhile, I've just been too afraid to post it. Lately, I've been reading this again, and I've realized that this isn't at all what I am fully capable and want to write. The story itself isn't half as good as what I'm doing in **_**Money Won't Buy Happiness. **_**There is a 30% chance I will take this down and rewrite it, but otherwise this will be up for adoption. Thank you everyone who reviewed this and gave me pointers, but again I won't be adding to this. **

**~Chocolate 'N Giggles.**

* * *

I shoved past a small group of kids and stumbled onto the playground. Luckily, the moment I had headed back to class, the bell rang for recess so I avoided the humiliation and taunt of my classmates. I hope.

I guess it doesn't matter either way since they can get to me anywhere, but it just makes it harder to figure out if I need to throw a punch or something. I sighed and shook my head, reminiscing my promise to myself and Alice not to mess up again.

I closed my eyes for a moment. _Maybe just once_, I though. _No, no you promised_, but it was too late, for my feet were already making my way towards the center of the playground and the anger was already stirring in my core. I squeezed my fists into little balls, reminding myself of the consequences if I got caught. Then again, the consequences wouldn't exist if it wasn't for her.

As I took quick steps towards her, I pondered on how much Alice and everyone else would hate me after this, but for now, it didn't matter.

"Hey Janice," I shouted, letting my voice carry over to her red hair.

* * *

Ponyboy gritted his teeth and curled his fingers around the arm rest of Two-Bit's death trap and it puttered along the black road. He curled his lips, wishing he hadn't taken up on Two-Bits offer to sneak out for lunch. "No one will notice," he had said. "Just don't tell Darry."

Ponyboy sighed. Johnny had seemed pretty cool about, which influenced his choice a little, but then again, Johnny didn't have a uptight older brother or a good GPA to keep. Not that Johnny wasn't smart or anything, but still.

"You okay there, Pony?" Two-Bit said with a heavy laughed when he saw his twisted up face "Just relax, I haven't been in an accident," he said.

"_Yet_," Ponyboy added mentally.

"When was the last time you took this thing for a repair?" Ponyboy asked, his voice rattling from the uneven beat of the near-flattened tires against the grainy road.

Two-Bit laughed without answering Pony's question before swerving his car around a turn at the last possible moment, provoking the roar of horns amongst angry drivers.

"Two-Bit!" Ponyboy shouted. A moment later, he realized how childish he sounded and a wave of shame feel across his face.

"Hey, I thought that diner was on the other side of town," Johnny said quietly, lifting his head to look at the traffic surrounding them.

"Yeah, I need to pick up Janice and ask if she wants to come." he said.

"But she's just a kid," Pony said, feeling somewhat horrified. Back when he was eight, he was nowhere near gutsy enough to ditch school even if it was for less than and hour and even if it was Soda or Darry who suggested it.

"Yeah," Two-Bit said, shrugging his shoulders. "And a quiet one at that. No one will notice if she's gone. Besides, I told the teachers she had a doctors appointment today."

Ponyboy wondered how Two-Bit could be so okay with saying that.

Ponyboy bit his lip and tried to look casually as Two-Bit took yet another careless and tight turn. Looking into the rearview mirror, he saw Johnny looking halfway amused with his expression and Pony wished for the millionth time that Soda was still in school.

Two-Bit finally rounded the last dreaded corner and drove his car down the driveway and towards the school.

"Hey, can you guys go look for her?" Two-Bit asked, pulling his car into the small parking space. "I need to go check her out at the office."

"Sure," Johnny said, jamming his fists into his pockets and began to trudge up the small hill towards the large playground.

Ponyboy followed his friend, running his eyes over the swarm of kids, all of which looked a lot like Janice to him. I brushed pass a group of children, stepping on their toes as flurry of "Sorry,", "Hey!", and "Excuse me," filled his ears.

He sighed. His dislike of kids under twelve had grown considerable since the last tutoring session. To Ponyboy's horror and Darry's excitement, more than half of the mothers who signed their kids up for the free trial had signed their kids up again, which didn't help at all.

After a few long minutes of searching to no avail, Two-Bit popped up behind the two. "Find her yet?" he asked joyfully, causing Ponyboy to jump. Two-Bit laughed. "You need to relax," he said.

"Hey," Johnny piped up. "Isn't that Janice over there?" he asked, pointing his middle finger at a group of around five girls crowded into the middle of the playground. On one side was the little girl from the tutoring session everyone hated with a dark scowl on her face. On the other side were the other girls, all cowering behind the on with red hair who was undoubtedly Two-Bit's little sister.

Ponyboy looked up to see Two-Bit's large face slowly twist up as he began to grasp what was happening. He didn't seem to care that these girls were half his age or that they were girls for that matter, as he marched up to them, his eyes burning with an anger that was rarely seen in someone like Two-Bit.

Ponyboy and Johnny shared a quickly look at each other before dashing off the join their friend, slightly afraid of what might happen.

* * *

I approached Janice, who was surround by her new best friends, who were no other that Vanessa and her little pack of obedient puppy dogs.

A little part of me wished I was older. Another wished I was stronger and could let this go without too much trouble, and another wished Alice was here to protect me. Yet another tiny piece of me warned me that something really bad was going to come out of this, but I didn't care. None of those wished were going to come true and there was nothing I could do but let my feet carry me to the crowd of girls who easily outnumbered me, secretly wishing I was one of them.

I'm not exactly sure what happened in those past five minutes. I remember lots of screaming and a little hitting and Vanessa looking as scared as ever. All I knew was one second I was screaming furiously at Janice, not sure whether I was crying or if I was just really mad, and the next second, a pair of strong arms, pulled me backwards.

I swung around heatedly to face a large man with really red hair. Even redder than Janice's. His large face was contorted and he seemed completely oblivious of the two younger boys, behind him trying to cool him off.

"Whadaya want?" I snapped.

His eyes widened and his anger disappeared from his eyes for just a second, looking a little taken aback by my response.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked numbly.

"What the hell is wrong with _you_?" I asked shakily, my heart beating against the thin walls of my chest.

"Fuck's wrong with you girly?" he growled, his cheeks flaming with anger. "Don't cha dare talk to my sister like," he said unevenly, moving in front of Janice so fast, I leaped a few feet backwards.

"Listen up sweetie," he sneered, crouching down do his face was inches away from mine. "Janice was too nice to tell me what you did that day, but I swear, if I ever find out…" he drifted off, his eyes warning me.

I didn't say anything as a starred straight into his eyes, wondering if he could read the fear in my pupils. I followed his large hand that closed around Janice's like a protective wall while Janice hid behind him, her expression filled with relief and trust. I focused on the man's angry eyes, trying not to think about Alice.

"Two-Bit," one of the younger boys murmured, gently touching his shoulder. He didn't even flinch, and continued to glare at me, frozen like a stone soldier.

"You little bitch," His mouth began spitting out a string of nasty words. "Ya know where ya gonna end up? Ya gonna end up on the streets, sleeping 'round for money you little…"

I shut my eyes, finally giving him the satisfaction of looking away. Every word that followed began to mean less and less to me and the angry man turned into a blubbering fool. And yet, I was still scared, still wanted Alice and still to frightened to move away.

"Two-Bit," the younger boy said warningly.

The man whirled around. "What?" he snapped.

The boy didn't say anything, and instead stared back down at his feet. Looking past him, I saw that the other boy was gone.

"Keith?" An incredulous voice spoke out from the background. I raised my eyes to see a crowd of terrified kids surrounding us, probably debating when would be a good time to run.

The Two-Bit/Keith straightened up, his anger subsiding a bit to make room for nervousness. "Oh, um hi." he said sounding dazed.

"What are you doing here?" the teacher asked, her eyes filled with more confusion than anything else. "What were you doing to…"She glanced towards me, looking at me with a pity that filled me with both relief and anger.

"I'm so sorry, I just…" he sighed, pressing his forehead to his palms.

The teacher curled her lip and tugged at her skirt nervously. "Keith, go to the office."

"Yes ma'am," he mumbled quietly as he began to walk toward the large school building. As soon as he started to leave, Janice scrambled up to catch up to him, sliding her hand into his larger. He glanced down at her a small smiled, rubbing her head. Just like a father would.

"Julia," she said, coming over next to me. "Are you alright," she said sounding slightly frightened. I think she thought that coming closer to me would make me feel better or something, but really, she was towering over me more than anything else.

I just nodded.

"Well, if that ever happens to you again, you go right away and tell someone okay sweetie?" she asked. Before I could say anything, she spun around towards the other kids and shouted "Go back to class."

She tried to pat me on the head, but stopped when I pulled away from her.

"Are you sure you're okay? You need to speak to someone?"

I shook me head.

"Um…" she said softly. "Then I think you should go to the office too," she said quietly as if she was still thinking it over.

"Okay," I said emotionlessly. I began to walk towards the door as hundreds of kids that surrounded me, parted like the Red Sea to make a little pathway just for me. I just crossed my arms and starred at the untrimmed grass the whole way there, feeling more alone than ever.

* * *

I buried my fingers deep into the pockets of my worn jacket staring blankly at the tornado of leaves that gently fluttered to the ground. I bit my lip as streaks of sunlight flittered across my eyes, blurring my vision.

I quickened my paced, not daring to look back at the large elementary school that was fading faster and faster behind me. A new wave of guilt washed over me every breath I took.

I was hardly sure of myself anymore. Was what I did right? Or should I have intervened?

I had been sickening. Sickening to see a rugged guy like him call out my baby sister like that. Only because his own little sister had been too much of a wuss to take care of herself.

I hated this. I hated feeling so helpless all the time, even to an extent where I let my baby sister hang out to dry. Who was I? Am I such a horrible person that I wouldn't risk anything, even to help out the only person I ever loved?

I closed my eyes, walking straight to my car, jamming my keys into the slot and speeding away before I could think twice. During the whole ride, I did nothing but stare at the empty road, doing all I could to clear my mind until I reached the gas station.

I bit my lip as I got out of the car, stepping into the gas station.

"You alright Alice?" I glanced up to see Mary, a thirty year old women who had been working here as long as I could remember.

"Yeah," I said quietly.

Mary smiled. "Okay, could you take over the counter for me?"

I nodded, forcing a smile on my lips, taking her spot behind the cash register.

I sighed, staring out

Moments after she left, I was jolted by the a guff of wind from the front door opening.

Anyone could've came in. A simply customer, a shoplifter, my boss, or even a robber. Lucky me, I got the blond boy from the tutoring session.


End file.
